There’s nothing like a three-day weekend to get the summer bike fun flowing.
On Sunday, the girls and I joined about 15 other folks for a ride out to Sauvie Island for the second annual Strawberry Ride organized by Dat Nguyen.
We rode from north Portland, along Willamette Blvd., and then took a lane on the St. Johns Bridge on our way out to the Island.
Once we got to Kruger Farms we were ready to pick. I tracked down Don Kruger (photo) to tell him how much I liked his farm and how much I appreciate him opening it up to cyclocross racing in the fall. Don is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet and he loves having cyclists out on the farm. I even noticed he has added more bike racks.
The fields weren’t quite bursting with ripe strawberries yet, but we still managed to snag a fair share.
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(File photo)
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Once back in north Portland, we enjoyed a splendid feast that included plenty of strawberry blended beverages.
We also took the opportunity to take turns riding the Folz Family vehicle, a shiny red bakfiets from Clever Cycles. The kids couldn’t get enough of it (and neither could the adults). I can’t wait to see more of these around town.
Different interpretations of size.
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The kids loved it.
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Later on Sunday, I took the Bike Friday Tikit out for a true test; a Zoobomb run. It was great to be back up on the hill. Check out the photo gallery for a look at some awesome minis and a glimpse of the action.
Here are some other events I heard about:
- On Saturday, Carye Bye led yet another one of her amazing Small Museums By Bike tours. This month’s theme was the art of books. Read more about it and see photos on her Flickr page.
- The REI store in downtown Portland held a Women’s CycleFest. The event brought together community resources, speakers, and more all to encourage more ladies to get out and ride.
I’m sure there were more bike adventures over the weekend. Feel free to write in and share yours!
Thanks for reading.
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Had a great time leading a Portland Velo Saturday ride, and then riding the Oregon Randonneurs Memorial Day Populaire!
My boyfriend and I took a ride Sunday from the “Road Biking in Oregon” book, but added about 10 miles to it. Springwater Corridor from Sellwood to the 205 path, up to Marine Dr and up around to Gresham and the Springwater again. Very nice, about 38.5 miles. 🙂 Not too busy, either.
Then on Monday we did a short ride around Tigard/Tualatin, 13 miles. And today I rode to work, about 6 miles! 🙂
North West Tandem Rally in Yakima, Washington. Wine tasting, riding through western Washington in the SUN, beautiful country side, 350 other tandems.
Mack & Jack on tap – to refresh after all those miles riding in the sun.
A total of 165 miles over the three days. It doesn’t get much better that that!
100 mile training ride completed in 6 hours 37 minutes of ride time, total trip time of 7:15 since I had to stop at a bike shop.
This weekend, I aim for 150 miles.
On sunday I took my ‘cross bike out for a nice loop around Hagg Lake. Some of the trail needs a lot of work and it definitely tested the limits of me and my bike, but it was a fantastic ride with some pretty sweet single track.
Then on Monday my girlfriend and I cruised around town so that she could strech her legs on the new to her, old school Monark Cruiser. It made me happy to see her sittin’ pretty on her new rusty ride!
100 miles on Saturday, with the centerpiece being a lovely 40 miles or so with Portland Velo, and then another 106 yesterday with the centerpiece being the Oregon Randonneurs Memorial Day Populaire from Hillsboro to Gaston and back by way of some very beautiful roads, some of which I had never been on. Photos here:
http://tinyurl.com/36bcs6
The only down side to the weekend was that 5 miles into yesterday’s ride, as I was climbing up through Washington Park on the way to the Hwy 26 path, a motorist decided it would be funny to crowd me off the road as I was taking a particulary steep pitch. One tumble later, I had a tweaked derailleur, a bent d-hanger, and some sore spots on my arm and shoulder. What I didn’t have was a license plate – I was too busy falling as he sped away. I managed to still have a good ride the rest of the day, even though I lost 1/3 of my gear range.
It was mountain bike weekend in Sisters! Saturday was for riding around the back woods down to the stream. Sunday was getting whooped by the McKenzie River Trail. Whoo boy! What a ride.
Hey ADirtMonkey, how muddy was the Hagg Lake trail?
Don’t forget the Vintage Velo ride that happened on Monday! Approximately 25 mile loop leaving and returning to the SE Lucky Lab. And good thing! I needed a few pints of Superdog afterwards!
Not only did I get to see some choice vintage frames (notably, the maroon De Rosa, and the silver Cinelli), but I actually met the guy who previously owned my frame! Small world!
The vintage velo ride was great! There are some very pretty bikes in this town. It was an interesting route, which by the way highlighted one of the worst bike intersections on a supposedly dedicated path: the one at about 70th or so on the springwater trail where you have to wait out two lights to make it to the diagonally opposite corner of the intersection to continue on the path. Anyone else hate that?
PeeJay – I’m guessing you mean the intersection at Bell Road and Johnson Creek. It’s not my favorite, but I don’t hate. Then again, I usually hit one of the lights so only have to wait out one. What I like less about that particular one is that the pavement at the entrance to the path on the SW corner is a mess and it can be a little hairy when cyclists are coming in both directions trying to stay on the same smooth bits and dodge the pole in the middle . . .
Peejay, that hairy intersection you speak of is three blocks away from my house, and I wholeheartedly agree that it has a lot of problems, including some big safety issues. The bad news is because it’s in unincorporated Clackamas County, it will likely that no bike-friendly changes will be happening anytime soon.
However, there is a bike/ped advisory committee for Clackamas County, and perhaps being a squeaky wheel to them will help put it into someone’s awareness. They have regular meetings that the public is invited to attend:
http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/dtd/trans/info/pedbike.htm
Also, Lynn Peterson, one of the county commissioners, is pro-bike, and seems to respond to emails. You can write to her at lynnpet@co.clackamas.or.us.
My first tour– 88 miles on Sunday out to Cape Lookout State Park along Nestucca River Rd. I can confirm that the legends about that route are all true. Camped right next to the beach and rode up to Manzanita on Monday where I got a ride back to town. I had a very european moment when, passing through some vineyards outside Carlton, a three-pack of hipsters on Vespa scooters came buzzing up the other side of the road to exchange stares with me on my fully loaded touring bike. Damn the forty hour work week!
Again the ‘bike world’ leaves recumbents in the dust as there is no coverage of the biggest recumbent event of the year at PIR. Races of all types all weekend.
my housemate and i took our long weekend and rode out to astoria. we took 47 and 202 to get there. great! we took hwy 30 to come home. uh, not so great. this was on monday…way too much traffic. we had my tiny stove and stove top espresso maker. i think all but one stop we made coffee.
Paul,
maybe you can share some photos and/or a recap? I went to those races last year and did a full story and photo gallery… I simply forgot about it this year.
That looks like fun!
I’d like to get involved in some of these rides. We don’t have rides like these here.